Geography of Leisure and Tourism

09.08.2010,

Closer to the end of June, a wistful and vague “Wish I were somewhere at the seaside” gives place to a more exact “Where to go?” Russian holiday-makers look through the map, resting their eyes on numerous sea resorts, envious of the luck of those living in a coastal city of Gelendzhik, near Lake Seliger, or in a village of Nikola not far from Lake Baikal – their summer vacation will be less of a financial burden.

In November-December, on the contrary, there is a sudden increase in number of mountain ski-lovers, who can’t wait for the season to start, and offbeat travel fans, who don’t care much for where to go, as long as they learn new things.

This, however, applies only to as much as 10-15% of Russians. Vacation prospects of the rest are much more modest. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center released the statistics on where these people are planning to spend their summer holidays (as for May 2009):

• at home, watching TV – 55%;
• at their dacha, cultivating plots of land– 21% ;
• at their relatives’ in other Russian cities – 9%;
• at the Black Sea – 9%;
• in a neighboring state or far abroad – 6%.

Yet, even these modest intentions turned out to be overstated. The Centre conducted another poll at the end of September, and here are its results:

• 65% of respondents didn’t go anywhere – they simply didn’t have enough money;
• 15% went to their dachas and cultivated their plots;
• 9% managed to go to the Black Sea, of which 7% in Russia, and 2% in the Crimea;
• 8% travelled to other Russian cities and towns, mainly to their friends’ and relatives’;
• no more than 3% could afford to go far abroad;
• less than 1% went to the Baltic states.

Below see which countries were chosen by Russian tourists as holiday destinations.

© Russian Geographical Society, Federal State Statistics Service, 2010

The mismatch in numbers (the Federal State Statistics Service state that about 6.7% of Russians obtained a tourist visa to go abroad, against 3-4% according to Russian Public Opinion Research Center) is explained by the fact that some people travelled two times and more, and in some cases, as for a business trip to China or Germany, it was easier to get a tourist visa.

People choose holiday destinations mainly depending on their income, but a visa-free regime can apparently affect their choice. But all through the 19^th and the two decades of the 20^th century people seemed to be guided by other factors.

Mariánské Lázně (former Marienbad)

Class-determined leisure

Before the Revolution of 1917, people understood the notion of “rest” in a way quite different from what we are used to now. Poor people (peasants and proletarians) spent most of their free time at home, rather passively, calling on their neighbors and relatives from time to time. On public holidays they would go to a fair or to an open air celebration.  Starting from the late 19^th century, city dwellers would go to the country in an organized manner by train or on foot. There they would hold May Day meetings, for revolutionary purposes at times.

It is also not easy to distinguish between work and leisure among the noble but for quite another reason. The nobles were more active when travelling to the south or to Europe, whereas at home, be it a city or their own estate, they would lead quiet, measured lives.

I.A. Goncharov, a famous Russian writer, remembers: “In 1857 I went abroad to Marienbad and wrote all three last chapters of “Oblomov” there”.

The pace of life in the past was much slower than now – a trip to Marienbad or the neighboring Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) took a week from Moscow or Saint-Petersbourg. That explains a meager flow of tourists at the time.

Travelling by stagecoach

Transportation problems had a crucial influence on travel preferences of many dignitaries, raznochintsy (19^th century intellectuals, who didn’t belong to the noble class) and some of the nobles. Starting from the 18^th century, they more and more often set their hearts on in the country. They had all necessary facilities there, they could easily arrange their holiday in terms of length and season, and they were not far from the tsar’s court, which was important for their careers. This mainly concerns places like Kamenny Ostrov (lit. Stone Island), Tsarskoye Selo (lit. Tsar’s Village), Pavlovsk, favored by residents of Saint-Petersburg, as well as country estates Kuskovo, Tsaritsino, Ostankino, and later Malakhovka and Tarusa,  frequented by Muscovites.

After the Revolution, the life became more regular and disciplined, with the government trying to take control over how people have rest. The good side of this was that large country estates were turned into state vacation retreats and guest houses, and later boarding houses, tourist and children’s camps. The government made a lot of effort to develop a network of summer resorts, especially around the Black Sea, Caucasian Mineral waters and in the Baltic states.

Did you know that?

The first travel agency appeared in 1841. In Russia the first organization that provided tours and excursions didn’t come until the 1870s.

In 1950s the question of leisure time, namely where and when people go on holiday, started preoccupying the minds of scientists, and a new branch of geography – recreational geography – was established. Its main objective was to study territorial recreation systems. Given that the Central Institute of Health Resort Science, organized on the initiative of N.A. Semashko, functioned since 1926, and later 13 more similar institutions started dealing in health resorts studies, one can conclude that the Soviet authorities were far from taking a laissez faire attitude towards where and how the Soviet people relax.

Applied tourism

Increased prosperity, transport infrastructure development, accelerating world integration, strong competition in other sectors of the economy (for instance, trade), and poor environment in major business and industrial cities led to a veritable travel boom in the mid 20^th century.

The table below illustrates travel industry development over the period of 1950-2009 (UNWTO data)

It is only natural that experts started wondering what factors people were guided by when choosing a travel destination. Recreational geography developed rapidly in Western countries as well, but there, it mainly focused on commercial, rather than social aspects of leisure. This branch of science became purely applicable, using such terms as “people’s needs”, “demand stimulation”, “motivation” and the like. There are authors who say quite openly that “studying tourism is, basically, studying rich people’s lifestyle” (Hall, 2005).

Tourism has turned into one of the most important industries. In 2008, according to data of the UN World Tourism Organization show, the share of travel industry in the Global GDP reached 9.6%.

These countries try to take the maximum advantage of their natural landscape, conserve and advertise their architectural masterpieces, invest vast sums into construction of new tourist complexes and improvement of transportation network.

In Russia, large-scale tourism is currently evolving. Russian tourists are far from being satisfied with the quality of domestic tourism. Integrated approach to travel is more of an exception. Yet, there are some exceptions. One of them is Belokurikha, a balneotherapeutic and ski resort in the Altai region, a beautiful place to go on holiday to. Several years ago it underwent a massive renovation: the authorities decided to build new hotels and swimming pools, as well as repair access roads. Unfortunately, these pales into insignificance beside the rates (starting at 2, 320 roubles a person per day as of 2010) and poor service.

Below see the list of major tourist and resort areas in Russia (according to A. Kuskov, V. Golubeva and T. Odintsova)

Russia’s niche

It’s certainly necessary to build modern tourist complexes, to develop infrastructure and what is more, to improve service. But it’s impossible to have an integrated approach to travel without looking at what exactly people’s needs are, at what they look for in a holiday.

In May 2010, the Russian Public Opinion Reserach Center conducted a survey to find out what people expect from a holiday. The table below shows the results of the survey and compares them to the results of 20 years ago.

As for the types of holiday, the majority of Russians prefer beach holidays (31%, mainly young people) and going to health resorts (27%, mainly elderly respondents). A large number of people in all age groups favor educational tours (29% of respondents). The number of those who love hiking, fishing and hunting has remained stable for quite a while (around 19-22%).

A view from Ukhodovo Island (courtesy of Elizaveta Kuznetsova)

Most of holiday-makers are interested in combining two or more types of holiday in one place, as well as having some basic infrastructure and friendly staff around. In fact, there are places that offer such combinations. Ukhodovo Island in the vicinity of Ivankovo Reservoir in Moscow region was selected as a recreation area by a public organization “Clean banks”. Students from this organization got everything that is needed for a good holiday in store: tents, sleeping bags, wood, axes, spades, and inflatable beach mattresses and dinghies for kids, barbeque sets, and wind surfs, kites, and so on. All of these is given out for free to tourists, who pay only the cost of transportation to the island, the rent of yachts, and lessons with an instructor. There is also a fine for those who drop litter, and rowdy individuals are immediately removed from the island and taken back to the “continent”.

Comfort-lovers will definitely appreciate house swap vacation – a new promising type of tourism that Russia borrowed from the West. House swap has become increasingly popular after the release of a Hollywood romantic comedy The Holiday in 2006. The scheme is simple: you have to find someone who would like to swap houses with you for a while, and come and live at your place while you stay at their place. Swapping houses is not expensive and is much fun when you do it with a foreigner. If you are skeptical about letting a complete stranger into your house, you could try a light version of house swap, that is visiting your new acquaintances and then become the host yourself.

Tourism and global issues

Tourism is an integral part of the world today, and it means that the industry has to face the same problems as humanity does. The two most pressing issues are global warming and depletion of non-renewable natural resources, like oil.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that by 2030 humanity will reach Peak Oil – the point when the maximum rate of global liquid hydrocarbon fuel extraction is reached, which will be followed by a slump. This view is shared by the Russian government. Given that the World Tourism Organization expects the number of tourist arrivals to go up to 1.6 billion annually in 2020 (twice as much as in 2009), and that more than 50% of tourists travel by plane and the rest prefer to travel by car, the industry is going to bear significant losses.

There is another problem – greenhouse gasses. At the moment, the UN requirements for tourism industry are obviously understated. The fact is, tourism is considered an effective means to improve economies of developing countries, so up to a certain time regulators will continue overlooking the fact that air carriers do not fulfill their obligations under Kyoto protocol and don’t reduce their CO2 and other noxious gasses emissions. After all, they release into the atmosphere only 5% of global total emissions (data of the UNWTO), which is not that much. But air carriers are likely to be made to resolve this problem very soon.

Due to global warming, climate patterns have shifted, and once ideal for tourism places are becoming less and less attractive. By the way, those who leave in temperate latitudes should know that to get an appropriate UV exposure in summer, they should not go farther to the south than the Azov Sea, the North Caspian and Sakhalin Island, located at 47-57 degrees north latitude.

Wild tourism

The aforesaid means that wild and semi wild tourism, like camping, will be on the increase with time. This type of tourism, on condition that tourists respect all the rules and regulations, doesn’t leave a large environmental footprint, it is good for health, quite safe and not expensive.

Aerium roofed park in Germany

The future of tourism

But all in all, environmental conditions are steadily deteriorating, with the number of suitable for tourism places falling. A number of developed countries have experienced that first-hand, and are switching to what is called stylized tourism. Colin Au, a businessman from Malaysia and President of Star Cruises was very frustrated with the autumn weather in Germany and had an idea to set up a tropical park near Brandenburg. They can even learn the basics of ethnography, by taking a stroll through theme mini-villages named Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, Polynesia, Congo and Amazon, or  by having a taste of their local cuisines.